Jessie sterrett and mary e



E. WALKER, DECD.

1. STERRETT AND M. E. STYEINER. ADMINISTRATRlCES.

- METHOD OF MAKING CROWN OPENERS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22,1915.

Patented July 26, 1921.-

Edwin ZUcfl/ter:

llomeys UNITED STATES PATE T orrice.

EDWIN WALKER, or ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA; JESSIE STERRETT AND MARY E. s'rEInER AnmNIsrEArEIc s or sun EDWIN WALKER, :oEoEAsEn.

iviE'rHon or MAKING GROWN-OPENERS.

Specification of Letters I atent. v pat t dJ ly 26. 92

Original application filed July 19, 1910, Serial No. 572,681 Divided and this application filed July 22,

1915. Serial No. 41,275.

Serial No. 572,681, wherein'the novel crown opener and method ofmaking the same were described and claimed.

ing crown openers which consists inbending a metal rod or wire into a loop and swaging the metal at a plurality of points within the" cesses in the wire or rod; The invention further embodies the method of making a combined corkscrew and crown opener in the form of "a unitary implement, in a simple, economicaland efiicient manner.

In the preferred manner of practising the present invention, a portion of wire rod is bent to form a loop, while the remaining portion of the'rod is formed to serve as a handle, andlips are swaged from that portion of the loop adjacent the handle, the swaging operation being so conducted that the resulting lips will have substantially parallel faces, convex edges,and recesses will be formed in the wire or rod at the points where the metal-is displaced to form the lips. The recesses are thus in juxtaposition with'the lips.

By forming the crown opener with two or more lips instead of one,-asusual, thepressure employed in removing the crown is dis tributed to betteradvantage', whereby the" bottle is more easily opened: and wlthlessdanger of breaking thenec k or mouth of said bottle: Moreover'fthe crown or cap is not so liable to be-distorted, therebyenabling it to be replacedon thebottle,-should thisbe desired. Furthermore, the flattened lips provide an' extended and? e'flicient bearing i maximum engagem'ent' of the lips-= with the crown, thereby aiding in the ready removal otthe latter. By making the lips with parallel faces, either face of said lips may be employed in lifting the crown, thereby allowing of the removal of the crown in either of the positions in' which the'crown opener maybe placed upon the bottle.

The method of the present invention secures economy in the manufacture of crown openers, and the product is'an extremely slmple device, strong, rigid, durable, and esthetic in appearance. The operations of forming the loop and swaging the lips are 7 performed'easily andrapidly by appropriate The invention embodies'a method of'makmachinery, the time consumed in the manufacture of one of the devices being comparatively infinitesimal, and this is also true of the method when employed in the manufacture of "combined cork screw and crown openers. In thelattercase, the cutting of the blankfor the composite implement also effects a considerable saving of time and material. h V

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated the preferred manner of practising the present method, but theconstruction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention. Figure 1 showsa reel of wire from which the openers are to be made, said reel being supported for rotation upon a' suitable standard.

Fig. 2 shows a blank or length of wire rod,

. of the length necessaryto formthe opener.

Fig. 3fshows the rod after being formed into the shape desiredfor the opener.

Fig. 4 shows the completed article.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig.6 shows the manner in which a length of" wire is out, it its desired to construct a? composite crown opener and corkscrew.

Fig. 7 shows the wireafter the cutting operation, and,

Fig. 8" shows the finished .i1i1pleinent.

Fig. 9 illustrates a modified form of compos'ite crown opener cork screw.

In making a crown{ opener A, as'shown in Fig.4, I preferably start'with' a reel of wire C, which isinountedon'a suitable standard B, although straight wire rod maybeenipl'oyed. In either case, a. piec of material '0 is out from the source'of supply, which piece forms the' blank from which the crown opener is to be made and is necessarily of such length as to form the completed opener.

Blank c is then manipulated by suitable,

mechanism into the form orconfiguration which it is desired to make the finished crown opener, such, e. 9., as the shape shown in Fig. 3. The shape of the crown opener may greatly vary, according to taste, the essential'feature being that. a loop, such asa, be provided which may be passed over a crown positioned on the neck of. a bottle,

and with said loop must be associated some means for operating the same, such as a second loop or projection a, shown in Figs. 3 and 4. l

In bending blank 0 into the. shape shown in Fig. 3, the free ends of said blank will be manipulated into end-abutting relation, and these ends are preferably not secured together in any way which will preclude their spreading apart, for reasons hereinafter specified.

Having com leted these operations, the partially comp eted crown opener is positioned, by any suitable mechanism, or manually, in cooperative relation with a suitable press which, when actuated, swages out from the interior of loop a, a plurality of lips d,

d and d, and in so doing, displaces a portion of the wire rod to form. recesses (i ad jacent each lip, as shown more in Figs. 4 and 5. 7

Any desired press'mechanism may be employed in forming the lips, but said mechanism is preferablysuch as will operate from both sides of the crown opener in such manner that-the finished lips will have parallel faces with recesses adjacent each face; Such a formation is shown in Fig. 5 and is the preferable one, forthe reason that the crown particularly opener thus formed is reversible, e., either face of the lips may be utilized in lifting the crown:

The form of the invention shown in Fig. 4 is that whichit is preferred to make. The three lips d, d and d are so positioned that the lips d and d are adapted for conduce better-results than have heretofore been possible. .,l

In utilizing the lips d andd' in the removal of a cro'wn,fthe loop rtion a of the opener 'is applie'dsto the nee -of a b ttle in the usual manner so that the said lips engage with the bent in edge of 'thecrowmand the handle portion ais then raised to remove the crown. When the lip d is employed to remove the crown,the loop portion a of the opener is applied to the neck of the bottle,

so that said single lip engages with the bent in edge of the crown, and the handle a 1s thereafter depressed thereby removing the crown.

lips, dueto the fact that the metal is very greatly compressed, makes them harder and thus greatly increases their durability. The positioning of the lips centrally of the metal composing the loop a adapts the implement to be used on either side to equal advantage; in other words, it is'reversible. The formlng of'the lips withsubstantially parallel faces causes said lips to reach in under thecorrugations of the bent-in edge of the crown, while the'recesses adjacent said lips enable said corrugations to fit well over the lips and.

into the recesses,during the operation of lifting the crown. Moreover, the recesses also serve to limit the extent towhich the lips project beneath the crown and preclude 3 their contact with the neck of the bottle.

thereby preventing the checking or cracking of the neck of the bottle.

A further feature of advantage is the fact that the free ends of the wire rod at the handle portion of the openerare disconnected, thereby enabling the opener to readily adjust itself to thecontour of the mouth of the bottle when the opener-is applied thereto, as in the act; of removing the. crown. The'lips d are preferably convex'or substantially semi-circular .on their inner free edges, and such peouliarlyformed: lips,.in conjunction with their proper spaoement apart, secure the desired result of lifting the crown easily, withoutany tendency to chip the neck of thebottle.

From the foregoing description of the invention, it will be: apparent that the different operations of forming the'opener may be autoniat-icall performed by simple, well known mechanisms, and that, inythe' manipulation of the metal incident to the forming of the lips, the opener is' strengthened rather than weakenechswhereby the resulting articleis strong anddurable. The article can, manifestly, be economically and expeditiously produced, is'esthetic in appearance,

and embodies all the characteristics which its entirety, a device of maximum efiiciency and utility is produced; yet, I am aware that the invention embodies man features, some of which might be employe without necessarily using all. -Accordingly,'I do not limit the invention to'the specific details shown and described, but consider the invention as broadly novel as commensurate with the appended claims.

I have hereinbefore described my process as embodying a plurality of steps, and have set forth the preferred sequence of these steps in the making of the opener. However, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to this particular sequence of operations, as they may be performed in different order. j

In Figs. 6, 7 and 8 I have shown a slightly modified form of the invention, the steps of which process, when carried out, produce a combined crown opener and cork screw. In manufacturing the combined article shown in said figures, a metal rod or wire E of the desired gage and strength is employed. This rod or wire is drawn from a coil, and a length suitable for the purpose is cut off, the line of the out being indicated ate Before, after, or during the operation of cutting off the length of wire or rod, the metal is cut or split lengthwise along the line 6 the line of division 6 extending at its extremities in oppositely inclined directions, as at e 0 whereby the cut length of material is separated int-o two distinct blanks e,

6, see Fig. 7. Themethod of making the blanks. is not only rapid and economical, two blanks being produced at one operation from a single length of material, but by'splitting the material in the manner described, the desired bevel 'and point e e of the cork screw is simultaneously produced in each of the two blanks.

The blanks having been produced the split portion of each blank which forms the screw is wound or coiled around a suitable mandrel, but the cylindrical part of the blank is adapted to form the handle of the cork screw by bending the cylindrical part of the blank into a loop f. V i

Before or after bending the cylindrical part of the blank to produce the loop 7, but

preferably after the formation of the loop, the material of the loop is swaged at one or more points by the operation of a suitable press, thus producing the recesses d and displacing the metal to form the fiat lips or offsets d, d and 0Z It will be obvious that the only distinction between the devices of Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, and Figs. 6 ms, inclusive, is that in the former case the crown opener is provided with a portion which serves as a handle only, whereas in the latter case the crown opener is provided with a handle in the form of a cork screw. In each instance, however,'

the crown opener embodies the essential feaur s of a p wi h me or mo el ps or lfsets positioned and constructed in the manner specified for the purpose of supplying pressure to the under edge of a bottle cap, when it is desired to remove the latter.

While it is preferable in forming the combined cork screw and crown opener from 'a blank which has been split, as described, the article may be made from a blank which consists merely of a wire rod of the required length, which is pointed at one end. One portion of the rod in such case is bent to form the loop, the remainder of the rod being bent to form the convolutions of the cork screw, and the loop swaged in the man ner specified to produce the crown engaging lips as shown in Fig. 9.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The method of making an article of the class described, which consists in bending a rod or wire into the form of 'a loop but leaving an extension on said loop to form a handle and then producing lips in the inner sur face of said loop by swaging the metal thereof inwardly of the loop for the purpose of forming crown lifting projections.

2. The method of making an article of the class described, which consists in bending a rod or wire to form a blank embodying a plurality of loops, and then producing a lip swaging the metal thereof inwardly of the loop for the purpose of forming a, crown lifting projection positioned substantially centrally of the wire or rod forming said loop.

3. The method of making an article of the class described, which consists in cutting from a source of supply a rod or wire of the length necessary to form the article, bending said roe into a blank embodying two loops, leaving the free ends of the rod unattached, and then producing lips in the inner contour of one of the loops by swaging the metal thereof inwardly from either side of the loop for the purpose of forming crown lifting projections with parallel faces and recesses inthe loop adjacent the lips.

4. The method of making an article of the class described, which consists in bending a rod or wire to form a blank embodying a plurality of loops, leaving the free ends of the wire or rod unattached, and then producing lips in the inner surface of one of said loops by swaging the metal thereof inwardly of the loop for the purpose of forming substantially flat, crown lifting projections.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

EDWIN WALKER. 

